Wednesday, January 16, 2008

the slow truth

Thank you for celebrating this collar thing with me! I knew you'd understand my excitement about those curves! Yet...

On reflection, I didn't do a good job of explaining that shawl color cardigan in the last post, I mean, why I was excited about it. Let's try again, for those who haven't been reading my blog for a while. Back in September 2006, I bought a lovely fleece at the TN State Fair from Far Out Farm. I happened to win some Chasing Rainbows Roving because I am a fast spinner and won a ribbon in the State Fair contest. I plied those together, and it looked like this. (first yarn in that photo)

Then I spun up the brown wool into big fluffy lofty double ply skeins, and I started knitting this sweater but something just wasn't right, I ran out of yarn and the v-neck wasn't working. Finally, I dug out this orangey, plum brown plied yarn which had been posted on my etsy shop and I used it myself. So yes, I did this sweater from start to finish...but my friend Kim at Far Out Farm raised the sheep!

Some processes are slow. I look back on it now, and this sweater took more than a year to happen, and that's not unusual when something is a handspun, handknit, hand-designed project. Especially if it's "just for me," which means I've completed lots of other designs for my work life, or for family members. (coming up soon, I'll show you the "thumbless mittens for my nephew...but I digress.) I can't show a lot of the work designs on my blog, but I do like it when a good plan comes together every now and then!

This book thing is also slow, although I'm pushing it along as fast as I can. What have I been doing? Well, in early January, we caught a day of sunny, warmish weather. I put on a very short skirt so I could model some of the sock designs. Then, we staged our photo shoot outside. Here is what the whole scene looked like, especially after Harry came over to visit and see the excitement. (note, the close up photos did not include extra shoes for modelling, the gas grill, Harry, or even my skirt!)

In the hundreds of photos shot, we got distracted by light and shadow. The professor kindly passed along these images to me so I could show you "behind the scenes" action. Well, action at a snail's pace, maybe? Action when the model is still recuperating and needs to sit down a lot?!

We went through the photos just a day or two ago. There were many fine shots. We're waiting now to see just what the editor thinks. In the meanwhile, we discovered some of these huge digital images were corrupted. This popped up, and well, it was too beautiful for us to discard! Sometimes taking things slowly gives me this tender pleasure. I can catch enjoyment at each stage of the process, from the fleece auction to wearing my "new" sweater. I'm trying to find these same joys about working on my book, even when things are s-l-o-w. When I'm mired in technical questions, I struggle...but then again? One corrupted image offers these rich colors and abstract geometry. It seems to make it worth it to slow down and watch for the surprises along the way.

PS: It's supposed to snow in Kentucky! I'm excited...but again, now I just have to w-a-i-t to see whether weather happens!

I really like this post Joanne~ because I am a "process" person...and can really relate to those "tender pleasures". So much in our world today happens sooo very fast...nice to enjoy the "slow truth" with you...

About Me

Joanne Seiff enjoys making things from scratch; she's been knitting since she was four or five and spinning since she was 12. Joanne is a writer, knitwear designer and educator. She's often walking Sadie and Sally (her bird dogs), spinning, knitting, gardening, cooking, and spending time outdoors with her twins and Jeff, her absent-minded biology professor husband, who studies butterfly genetics.